Saturday, March 5, 2016

St Gregory of Nyssa on Death

Death is a popular theme within
Christianity. A Saint’s feast day is basically the day he or she died, and
entered into the Heavenly Kingdom. One of the most famous and widely read
Church Father, St Gregory of Nyssa has written about death.He explains the fact
that death terminates the apostasy of man towards God, being, therefore,
refashioned in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. He says this using a sort of parable,
story:

‘Suppose that some vessel has
been composed of clay, and then, for some mischief or other, filled with molten
lead, which lead hardens and remains in a non-liquid state; then that the owner
of the vessel recovers it, and , as he possesses the potter’s art, pounds to
bit the ware which held the lead, and then remolds the vessel after its former
pattern for his own special use, emptied now of the material which had been
mixed with it: by a like process the maker of our vessel, now that wickedness
has intermingled with our sentient part, I mean that connected with the body,
will dissolve the material which has received the evil, remolding it again by
the resurrection without any admixture of the contrary matter, will recombine
the elements into the vessel in its original beauty.’[1]

About Me

I have studied Theology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Theology, International Relations at the University of London (Queen Mary). My Master's Thesis was published as a book: 'The Aegean Sea Dispute Between Greece and Turkey - The Consequences for NATO and the EU'. For more information see: http://www.akakia.net/el/the-aegean-sea-dispute-between-greece-and-turkey
I have also studied Byzantine Music in Athens and I am currently undertaking a research on the “Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius and its contribution towards Anglican – Orthodox Relations”, at the University of Winchester.
I also represent the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain at the A.E.C.A. If you wish to contact me you can email me: demetrifs1@yahoo.com